Old school, new needs

Cheers went up as a volleyball was smacked over the net at a freshman game in Snohomish High School’s old gym this week.

But sitting in the wooden bleachers, Richard Soth, 69, couldn’t shake the sights and sounds of pep assemblies held there more than 50 years ago.

There were the varsity football players sitting in a pack in their usual corner and spilling into the balcony above the basketball hoop.

Then-principal Hal Moe, in his suit jacket and bow tie, looked on.

Herald file photo Snohomish High School students read in class in 1956.

In traditional fashion, speech teacher Winston Inslee came out to lead a raucous cheer:

“Do you want to see us go?

“Do you want to see us go?

“Do you want to see us go?

“Well, ALL RIGHT!

“Well, ALL RIGHT – LET’S GO!”

The old gym, which in 1954 – Soth’s senior year – was actually the new gym, has changed a lot since then. But the rich, wooden bleachers are the same.

“It doesn’t seem like much,” Soth said. “But I truly appreciate that part of it. … I was really glad that at least a portion of that was the same as when I was in high school.”

Snohomish School District is embarking on a $64 million overhaul of the high school. By the time construction is finished in 2010, more than half the buildings, mostly on the western half of the campus, will have been demolished.

The old gym will be among them.

School leaders, sensitive to emotions the emerge from the school’s 111 years of history, have been holding community meetings about the project for the past year.

Architects have two campus designs and three traffic-flow plans for the public to comment on. Meetings are scheduled for today, Tuesday and Thursday in the high school commons.

The plans take into account concerns such as getting traffic off Fifth Street, more visitor parking, and using more traditional building materials, such as brick.

They also preserve the campus’s “historical face” at the corner of Fifth Street and Avenue D – a grassy area in front of the 1939 A Building that features a huge oak tree planted in the 1940s in honor of the school’s military veterans.

Other questions, such as what will happen to pieces of the old gym, still don’t have answers. The school is seeking ideas about ways to preserve the school’s history and nostalgia.

Ideas floated so far include a display case of memorabilia and selling pieces of wood or brick as a fundraiser.

Construction is to start in 2007 and will be done in three phases as students are moved from old buildings into new ones. In the end, designers hope for a more uniform-looking campus that includes better technology, access and safety.

The project is part of a $141.6 million bond issue approved in 2004. The money also is funding construction of a second high school on the district’s growing south end.

The bond’s 61 percent support was in contrast to a bond in 1997, when Snohomish voters twice rejected a similar proposal.

The project underscores the relationship the city – known for its Victorian homes and antique shops – has with tradition, as well as changes that come with rapid growth.

Some worry that along with nostalgia, a sense of community is in danger with the high school changes.

“It’s the history of Snohomish. That’s the high school,” said Nola Schaus, a 1951 alumna. “It just doesn’t seem right to have a second high school in Snohomish. … It’s going to be something like Everett, where no one knows anyone else.”

Still, Schaus said she realizes the school is overcrowded. “They’re saying the (graduating) classes now are bigger than the whole school used to be.”

And she noted that the campus already has changed in many ways, with renovations, new buildings and the football field shifted to a different spot.

The first high school building, originally a courthouse, was torn down decades ago. The buildings that are there now were raised across the decades and range in age from six to 67.

“They just packed all the buildings in like sardines,” said Bob Heirman, who graduated in 1951 and is now a local historian.

Marshall Wilcox, 17, a senior, said the campus is in need of work again. The main brick pathway is warped and floods, he said. Older buildings aren’t up to code, and in the oldest of them, the wiring is so old that computers can’t be used.

“This one is a mess right now,” said Wilcox, who has sat in on a design committee.

Superintendent Bill Mester said the timeline on the project was extended last year to include more community meetings, including tours of the school.

“When you take a high school downtown, that is a significant architectural statement to a community,” Mester said. “What we have to do is balance what is historically important with making sure we put together” functional, safe and lasting buildings.

Soth, a retired teacher, said he’s glad Snohomish High School will get updates to keep students at the forefront of education. But he said he hopes the school can retain pieces of places such as the old gymnasium.

“I just have that special feeling when I come on campus,” he said. “I still feel that, hey, this is my high school – even though it’s been over 50 years.”

Reporter Melissa Slager: 425-339-3465 or mslager@ heraldnet.com.